The present invention relates generally to chill casting apparatus and more particularly to the structure and arrangement of chill mold sections and a method for chill casting of parts by movement of the chill mold sections along an endless path during casting operation.
In the casting of the shaped parts in chill molds, it has been customary to use chill molds which consist of two halves joined together by an opening and closing mechanism with the halves of the mold when joined together forming a mold cavity. For automated operation, several such chill molds are placed on a conveyor device or truck whereby they are moved in a particular sequence through various stations along a circular path or track. Such arrangements generally involve relatively elaborate structures and large moving masses, in addition to the chill molds which are utilized.
As a result, in the casting operations there will be required relatively long station times and high maintenance costs with changeover of the apparatus being rather complicated.
In addition to the arrangements mentioned above, it is also known in the casting of mill balls, for example, to provide a set of separate chill molds with two opposing joinder faces with the chill molds revolving around a closed path or track. The joinder faces when brought together form a completed mold cavity and an example of such a device is U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,388. A part of the chill molds on the revolving track or path forms a closed stack which leads past the teeming point up to an emptying point where each chill mold is temporarily accelerated away from the stack. In this known arrangement, the joint faces of adjacent ingot molds are spaced from each other only at the emptying point. The return of the chill molds is effected again in a closed stack parallel to the first mentioned stack. From the end of the returning stack to the start of the leading stack the chill molds are displaced transversely to the direction of the stack and the joint faces and sliding on each other. This results in that the mold cavities are practically inaccessible upon the entire revolving track and that some necessary or desirable operations are not possible in the chill casting operations. For these reasons, only geometrically simple or coreless parts can be produced with this known arrangement since these types of devices present no problem with regard to the casting material.
The present invention is directed toward an arrangement which will permit the production of more complicated and intricate molded parts utilizing a chill casting method of the type which requires particularly the insertion of cores and the influencing of chill molds on their revolving track. Thus, the invention is aimed toward the provision of a method and apparatus whereby chill molding techniques may be simplified and more complex parts may be produced in a casting arrangement with greater ease and with lower costs.